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Chicago Repositioning Numbers to Know
$315M+: TIF approved by City Council across six LaSalle corridor conversions, backing roughly $900M in total investment and 1,765 housing units (City of Chicago)
4,000+: Residential units expected from nearly two dozen private office conversions in the pipeline beyond the city-backed LaSalle projects (Chicago DPD)
117 units: The Bellwether at 79 W. Monroe, the Loop's first completed office-to-residential conversion, delivered by Lagfin and R2, whose Matt Pistorio joins this program
$241.5M: The Field Building at 135 S. LaSalle, the largest conversion by square footage and cost in the LaSalle initiative, with first units expected in 2027
26.6%: Downtown direct office vacancy in Q3 2026, versus 11.4% for trophy buildings (CBRE)
No. 3: Chicago's national rank for office-to-residential conversions, behind only New York and Washington (RentCafe)
Projects To Be Discussed And In The News
A look at what our panelists are building right now, and where their projects have been making headlines:
Matthew J. Faris (Managing Partner, Commonwealth Development Partners): Commonwealth Development Partners Breaks Ground on $162M Office-to-Residential Conversion (Traded)
Drew Millard (Principal, Concord Capital): CBRE closes sale of 48,000-square-foot loft building in Chicago's River North to Concord Capital (REjournals)
Michael Shenouda (Founder, Honore Properties): Shenouda's Honore snags 70 East Lake for $9M with apartment conversion plans in mind (The Real Deal)
Matt Pistorio (Principal, R2 Companies): Chicago's plan for more Loop housing hits milestone with opening of Bellwether Residences (Chicago Sun-Times)
Mike Reschke Jr (EVP, Development & Acquisitions, The Prime Group): Another Jahn for Prime Group: Firm developing Google's Chicago home buys second signature property (CoStar)
Speakers and Panels
Off LaSalle: Making Conversions Pencil
Inside the private-market conversions taking shape from the Mag Mile to the East Loop: how developers are finding deals at today's office pricing and using historic tax credits and landmarking to make them work without TIF, and how adaptive reuse is bringing the blocks around them back to life.
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Matthew J. Faris
Managing Partner
Commonwealth Development Partners
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Drew Millard
Principal
Concord Capital
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Michael Shenouda
Founder
Honore Properties
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Ernie Wong
Chair, Chicago Landmarks Commission
site design group
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Shannon Burke
Vice President
Bulley & Andrews
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Jennifer Schultz
Partner
Nixon Peabody
Change for the Better: Rethinking What a Building Can Be
Every conversion starts with a question of identity. The teams behind The Bellwether, 208 S. LaSalle and Wacker Place on deciding what a building should become, which parts of its character are worth keeping, and how to protect them through a change of use, from design and financing to whatever surfaces once the walls come down.
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Mike Reschke Jr
EVP, Development & Acquisitions
The Prime Group
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Matt Pistorio
Principal
Principal, R2 Companies
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Kinjal Patel
President
McHugh Construction
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Andy Schnack
Vice President, Sales
Zentro
Reinventing the Loop, one building at a time
Downtown Chicago has committed more than $2 billion to 35 office-to-residential conversion projects so far this year, accounting for nearly 4,500 new apartments in progress, underway, or delivered — from the Magnificent Mile to the LaSalle Street corridor. This December, we'll bring together the developers, architects, lenders, and city officials turning the Loop's most obsolete office towers into its newest neighborhoods, and look at what's next as this year's wave of groundbreakings moves toward delivery.
What We'll Explore:
How Commonwealth Development Partners is turning a 24-story tower at 500 N. Michigan Ave. into 320 apartments, a $162M bet that conversions can pencil on the Magnificent Mile and not just LaSalle Street.
Why Concord Capital is running nine conversions at once, from River North lofts at 226 W. Ontario and 445 W. Erie to the Pontiac Building in Printers Row, mostly without city subsidies.
How Honore is underwriting a 170-unit residential plan at 70 E. Lake St., bought this summer for about $65/SF, and what today's office pricing means for the next wave of deals.
How landmarking and historic tax credits shape what's possible off LaSalle, with Chicago Landmarks Commission Chair Ernie Wong.
How adaptive reuse beyond the Loop can bring the blocks around a building back to life, with Bulley & Andrews, the 135-year-old Chicago builder behind some of the city's most demanding historic restorations.
What it took to give 79 W. Monroe a second life as The Bellwether, R2's 117-unit conversion and the first LaSalle Street Reimagined project to open, while honoring the building's history, with help from $28M in TIF and $7.8M in historic tax credits.
How Prime Group is moving forward on 280 apartments at 208 S. LaSalle while lining up its next Jahn-designed tower at 55 W. Monroe, and what years of LaSalle Street conversions have taught the team about cost and schedule risk.
What a builder sees that a pro forma doesn't, with McHugh Construction on preserving a building's identity through a change of use, as at Wacker Place, and the line items that surprise owners who assume reuse will be cheaper than building new.
Questions about your ticket purchase or interested in sponsoring?
Reach out to customerservice@bisnow.com for customer support. For sponsorships, contact z@bisnow.com or call 520-405-6375. For questions, recommendations, comments or press inquiries please email Will Follett at will.follett@bisnow.com. To request disability-related accommodations, please contact janet.fernandez@bisnow.com no later than seven business days prior to the event.
Venue
The Allegro Royal Sonesta Hotel Chicago Loop
171 W Randolph St
Chicago, IL 60601
Ballroom: Walnut, Lobby Level
Parking Information:
$35 Valet Parking
Agenda
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8:00 AM
9:00 AM
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Opening Networking
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9:00 AM
9:45 AM
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Off LaSalle: Making Conversions Pencil Without the City's Check
Conversion money is moving well past LaSalle Street, and it isn't waiting on city dollars. Commonwealth Development Partners' 320-unit plan at 500 N. Michigan, Concord Capital's run of River North and Printers Row lofts and Honore's 170-unit plan at 70 E. Lake show how developers are making deals pencil at today's office pricing, while the Chicago Landmarks Commission and Bulley & Andrews show how historic credits, landmarking and adaptive reuse can preserve a century of architecture and reactivate the blocks around it. |
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9:45 AM
10:30 AM
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Change for the Better: Rethinking What a Building Can Be
What is this building, and what should it become? R2's The Bellwether, the first finished LaSalle Street Reimagined conversion, Prime Group's 280 apartments at 208 S. LaSalle and McHugh Construction's work at Wacker Place each answer that differently. Hear how these teams decide which parts of a building's character to keep, bridge the gap between design intent and what's buildable, and weigh what it costs, in dollars, credits and schedule, to give an old building a new purpose without losing what made it worth saving. |
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10:30 AM
11:30 AM
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Closing Networking
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